HS2 was never the north’s salvation

Latest for the NS

As hinted at in my last post, my latest essay for the New Statesman is on HS2 and the problem of regional inequality.

Contrary to what might be expected, i’m sceptical of the project – much of which is to do with the overinflated rhetoric around it. When the scheme was first announced, then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said that it would not only create “tens of thousands of jobs” but would ensure that “the north-south divide in our economy … can be healed”. It’d be nice to say that such nonsense has been dispensed with, but in our post-“levelling-up” era, it’s only got worse.

As i wrote in the piece

For LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty, Rishi Sunak’s originally scrapping of phase two last October was both “anti-growth” and “anti-doing something about the north of England”. Andy Street, former mayor of the West Midlands, had gone further, saying that the scheme’s potential revival would ensure the country gets “something fit for the century ahead”.

Beyond such bluster, HS2 would have done the north few favours, even before the extent of its spiralling costs became clear (the London to Birmingham section alone has risen from an initial estimate of £19.4bn to around £66bn). Though it would have eased some capacity issues, the new line would have cut journey times between London and Crewe by around half an hour, while London to Manchester would have had an hour taken off its current 2 hours and 10 minutes travel time: small change for most travellers. Its green credentials were equally inflated – even on the government’s own calculations, and across its 120-year lifespan, its carbon savings were due to be more than offset by the project’s emissions. But, most importantly – given its vaunted symbolism – far from fixing the country’s grossly unequal economic geography, HS2 would only intensify current trends.

All that being said, the north and the midlands need more and better public transport. The problem with HS2 is not that its a big project, its that it would only help London.

You can read the rest here.

I also have a few more pieces in the works, which hopefully i’ll have time to finish up soon. But i am, as always, available for commission – particularly for essays on history/literature/culture and so on. Or, if Crewe is ever in the news again …